The Course Of True Love Never Did Run Smooth
by Faramirlover
Summary: Set after episode 1 of series 2. IantoxJack. It's all about the date that Jack asks Ianto on.


A/N: Written because the course of true love never did run smooth (hence the name).

Disclaimer: It all belongs to Russell T. Who is god and will hopefully bring these two together in this series. Spoiler for Series 2 episode 1.

**While I was away I thinking, maybe we could, you know, when this is all done, dinner, movie.**

**Are you asking me out on a date?**

**Interested?**

**As long as it's not in an office**

OOOOOO

Ianto had tried his hardest not to show it, but when Jack had asked him on a date he'd felt lighter than air. However, the following events had driven the happiness out of him. It was only when he curled up in bed that night, watching his old and battered copy of Sleepless in Seattle that he remembered and the happy bubbly feeling returned full force.

The first time it happened, Owen had managed to accidentally free the Beltain that they had locked in the cells. It had taken them hours to track it down as the Beltain had an annoying ability to turn itself invisible at will. They had had to put the hub into lockdown to stop it escaping and then proceeded to search the whole of the Hub from top to bottom.

By the time they eventually found it hiding in Ianto's favourite coffee jug (Ianto had sworn he would never touch the thing again, nor let it anywhere near his precious coffee beans) it was well past midnight and all Ianto wanted to do was crawl into bed and fall fast asleep. Judging by the expression on Jack's face as he finally shut the cell door on the foot high creature, he felt exactly the same way. Ianto nodded to Jack once before leaving the Hub and heading home. So much for the fun first date he'd been hoping for.

The second date to be cancelled was when Ianto came down with the flu. He hated being ill but the experience was made so much worse by the idea of what he could have been doing instead. Ianto secretly hoped that Jack would come round and look after him but aliens stopped for nothing and instead he got Gwen for five minutes when she dropped round with some homemade soup. Brilliant!

On their third date they'd actually made it into the cinema foyer when it all went pear shaped. Jack was being as courteous as possible, opening doors and offering to carry him over puddles (he would have lain his coat over them except he loved his coat a little too much for that). Ianto was just being persuaded that as Jack as him out, Jack was going to but the popcorn when his mobile rang. Apparently Tosh was tracking a weevil and Ianto, as resident weevil catcher, was needed urgently. Jack shrugged and said that it didn't matter, that they'd do it again some time but Ianto was starting to get the sinking feeling that something would always get in the way.

And it seemed he was right. Over the next few months they arranged date after date, dinner after dinner, film after film but they never quite got there. Everything stood in their way, from rampaging aliens to Ianto's sister giving birth to Owen falling down a flight of stairs and needing taking to hospital. It seemed that the fates had decided that they weren't ever going to get on their date and as time wore on, Ianto was starting to get the feeling that Jack wasn't particularly bothered.

His suspicions were confirmed the next Friday. He'd booked a table at Fabio's and was just finishing in the archive and about to dash home and change when Owen gave a girly shriek and came running towards him.

"The bloody pterodactyl's gone mad. It's making a complete mess."

Owen was right. Myfanway was dive bombing the work stations sending papers flying everywhere, shrieking wildly.

"Unplug the computers," Ianto cried, dashing forward "the flickery lights are upsetting her."

Tosh and Gwen leapt away from the wall where they had been cowering and dashed to turn off the computers. Jack appeared seconds later, switching off the overhead lights, plunging the whole room into darkness. Instantly Myfanway stopped shrieking. A rush of wings signified she was flying back to her roost.

"I better go see if I can calm her down enough to turn the lights back on," Jack said and they heard him climbing up the ladder.

"I want to know," Owen said, fumbling about in the dark, his hand dangerously close to Ianto's crotch "how he manages to climb up there in the dark without killing himself. I swear he lives off carrots."

"You do know," Ianto replied, steering Owen's hands away from his person "that carrots don't actually make you see in the dark. And that if Jack did kill himself, it wouldn't matter. He could just try again a minute later."

Owen opened his mouth to call Ianto a bloody know-it-all when Jack's voice echoed down towards them.

"Gwen? You can turn the lights back on. She's asleep."

There were a few moments of scrabbling about and then the lights flicked back on one by one.

The whole of the Hub was ruined. Two of the computer monitors were cracked, papers were strewn everywhere and Tosh was sat in the middle of the floor, blood dripping from a wound on her forehead, blinking dazedly in the sudden light.

"Tosh?" Owen asked gently, kneeling down in front of her "talk to me."

"Owen?" she asked, giggling lightly "why are there three of you?"

"Concussion," said Owen, standing back up and helping Tosh to her feet "I'll take her home and patch her up there."

"Okay," Jack said from behind Ianto, making him jump "you do that. Don't bother coming back in. You can go too Gwen, Ianto'll cope with the tidying up on his own."

"But…" Ianto started, turning to face Jack with a look of incredulity "I've got a date that I want to be on."

"I'm sorry Ianto. You know you wouldn't be able to cope with Gwen's tidying and this needs sorting out now. I'm sure your date will understand. I'll speak to you later. There's some things I have to do."

Jack swept past the team leaving them all stood there, wondering what he could be doing that he wouldn't share with them.

"I think he's sleeping with someone," Owen said as he collected his and Tosh's stuff while Gwen grabbed her bag.

They moved as a group towards the exit, Ianto completely forgotten. Seconds later they were gone. Ianto stood for a few moments, staring at the door they had left through. It was as though Jack didn't want him at all! And the rest of them had just abandoned him.

Swearing darkly in welsh he began collecting papers together, organising piles of rubbish and clearing up a couple of broken coffee mugs, all the time trying to fight the tears that threatened to spill at any second.

The force of habit kept him there until the place was pristine again and the new computer screens were ordered. It took over an hour and seemed to him a high price for a few minutes panic. Shutting the door to the Tourist Office with a click, he headed home cursing Jack silently to the heavens.

He banged his front door open and threw his jacket and the coat hook, not caring whether it reached its goal. He was just about to start swearing again when he heard noise coming from his kitchen. Pulling his gun out of his back pocket he proceeded with caution down his hall.

The kitchen door was ajar and he could see a figure moving about inside. Ianto gently nudged the door open and crossed the room to stand behind the figure that was bent down, rummaging in a cupboard.

"Hands on your head. Stand up slowly. I have a weapon."

"You wouldn't shoot me, Ianto. You're not that annoyed with me."

"Jack! For God's sake, what are you doing here?" said Ianto relieved but he didn't lower the gun.

"Put the gun down, Yan," said Jack standing up and leaning lazily against the counter "we both know there's no point shooting me."

"It would make me feel better. What the hell is going on?"

"I'm cooking you dinner. All romantic, candles and everything. See?" he gestured towards the open dining room door through which Ianto could jut about see the table.

"That doesn't explain why you blew me off. We could have had a nice meal at Fabio's but no. _You_ made me clean up instead," Ianto was still angry but he did put the gun down.

"You see," said Jack "something always seems to go wrong and I thought, well, if this time, I'm in control of what's gone wrong, I can fix it. You gotta believe me, Yan, every time something went wrong, it was killing me."

"I… I thought that you weren't interested," Ianto said sadly, dropping his head forward slightly, tears prickling the edges of his eyes again.

"Ianto," smiled Jack, tilting Ianto's face up to look at him "if you only ever believe one thing I say, let it be this: I could never not be interested in you."

Ianto couldn't hold it back for a second longer and he started crying. Instantly Jack wrapped him up in a tight embrace.

"Don't cry, silly," he admonished gently stroking his hair "most people would be delighted to have Captain Jack Harkness wrapped around their finger."

Ianto laughed lightly for a moment before extracting himself from Jack's hold and drying his eyes on his sleeve.

"Right," he said, peeling off his jacket and grinning at Jack "what have you cooked me?"

"You'll love this," Jack promised, turning to the oven, pulling out a tray and holding it out for Ianto's inspection "Chinese takeaway."

Ianto laughed again.

"I should have known. Mind you, if my memory serves me correctly, the last time I ate something you cooked was my birthday. You baked me a cake."

"Yep," Jack nodded happily "a chocolate one. I was smitten with you even then."

"I got food poisoning."

"Yep," Jack confirmed, still happy "good times."

He set about dishing up the Chinese. They didn't speak again till they were sat at the table, tucking into the sweet and sour chicken, but it was a happy silence.

Eventually Ianto reached out, albeit nervously, and took Jack's hand in his own.

"I'm glad we got here in the end. And I'm glad we're not in an office."

OOOOOO

A/N: Wow that was long for me. Anyway, please tell me what you think. Feedback is love.


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